Say no more protest

28 January 2022

Last Saturday was the Say No More protest. A protest against sexual harassment in public transport. The topic of sexual harassment was extra relevant because of the recent news reports about the Voice and John de Mol's statements. Speaker and initiator Emma de Miranda also briefly countered John de Mol and made it clear: It is not the fault of women.

The goals from Say no more are:

Say no more strives for a society where you are not intimidated based on your gender.
Say no more strives for a society where you can get from A to B safely.
Say no more strives for a society where safe travel by public transport is normal for everyone.

In early 2020, there were over 200 reports of sexual harassment in public transport. Many people who are sexually harassed do not even report it. So the real number of cases is actually much higher.

Emma de Miranda also conducted research through the HU and then came to the conclusion: 'Sexual harassment (and worse) is very common on the train, the number of reports is poorly tracked and the authorities do little about it. Of the people I contacted via Instagram, hardly anyone knew their story was serious enough to be reported. And some of the victims don't dare report it.'

Speakers at the protest were:

Tessel Ten Zweege

Laura of the FMNST platform

Stefanie King

Daryll R. Landbridge

These speakers told personal stories about sexual harassment and delivered a message: Learn more about sexual harassment and also spread this education. Similarly, Daryll R. Landbrug also came up with the advice for all men to read the book "The will to change, men's masculinity and love". Indeed, tackling sexual harassment also starts with a change in culture. Men need to learn more about consent. After all, this is a men's problem.

Minister Ferd Grapperhaus addressed the questions by Kuiken and Van den Hul (Labour Party) on tackling sexual harassment in public transport. The answers to the questions are written down in two and a half a4 sheets. But how on earth can this big problem be 'solved' in not even three pages?

Say no more therefore comes with the following advice:

NS staff should be better trained so that conductors can intervene and refer to the Sexual Violence Centre.
There should be counselling from A to Z for the victims. The NS offers an emergency number, but it is accessible only until 24:00. Moreover, many people don't know it. This can be improved.

In previous contact, NS did not take the initiative to change. But it will continue as long as it has to. If necessary, the organisers want to take the cases to OV Nederland and to the Ministry of Justice and Security. But support for Say No More is important for this, here DWARSers can also help.

Have you suffered (or had suffered) sexual harassment and want to talk about it? Then contact Centre Sexual Violence on 0800-1088.

View here The AD's report on the protest and listen here To Radio 1's radio interview.

Last Saturday was the Say No More protest. A protest against sexual harassment in public transport. The subject of sexual harassment was even more relevant because of the recent news reports about the Voice of Holland and the statements made by John de Mol. Speaker and initiator Emma de Miranda also briefly responded to John de Mol and let people know: It's not women's fault.

The goals of Say no more are:
Say no more strives for a society where you are not intimidated because of your gender.
Say no more strives for a society in which you can get from A to B safely.
Say no more wants a society in which a safe journey by public transport is normal for everyone.

At the beginning of 2020, there were over 200 reports of sexual harassment in public transport. Many people who are sexually harassed do not even report it. The real number of cases is therefore even higher.

Emma de Miranda did research via the HU and came to the conclusion: 'Sexual harassment (and worse) is very common on the train, the number of reports is poorly recorded and the authorities do little to combat it. Almost none of the people I contacted on Instagram knew that their story was serious enough to be reported. And some of the victims were afraid to do so.

Speakers at the protest were:

Tessel Ten Zweege
Laura from the FMNST platform
Stefanie King
Daryll R. Landbridge

These speakers told personal stories about sexual harassment. They also gave out a message: Learn more about sexual harassment and spread this education. Daryll R. Landbrug came up with the advice for all men to read the book "The will to change, men masculinity and love". Tackling sexual harassment also starts with a change in culture. Men must learn more about consent. This is a men's problem.

In January 2020, Minister Ferd Grapperhaus addressed questions from Kuiken and Van den Hul (PvdA) about tackling sexual harassment in public transport. The answers to the questions were written down in two and a half pages. But how on earth can this major problem be 'solved' in less than three pages?

Say no more, therefore, came with the following advice:

The NS staff must be better trained so that conductors can intervene and refer to the Centre for Sexual Violence.
There must be support from A to Z for the victims. The NS offers an emergency number, but it is only accessible until 24:00. And many people don't know about it. This needs to change.

When contacted previously, the NS did not take the initiative to change. But they will continue as long as they have to. If necessary, the organisers want to submit the cases to OV Nederland and to the Ministry of Justice and Security. But supporting Say No More is important; DWARS can also help with this.

Have you suffered or are you still suffering from sexual harassment and do you want to talk about it? Then contact the Centre for Sexual Violence via 0800-1088.